News archive from 18 September 2013

Put your umbrella down, pour yourself a hot drink, take a seat and remember the summer of 2013. It was the UK's ninth warmest since comparable data collection began in 1910. It was also one of the sunniest on record.
So, how did we react to those...

An increasing number of NHS organisations fear they will not be able to make enough efficiency savings to contribute their share of the £20bn required by 2015. Photograph: Cate Gillon/Getty Images The NHS is facing deepening financial problems,...

The recommondation comes in the health committee's first assessment of the Francis review of the Mid Staffs scandal, in which patients endured appalling care. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Hospital wards should publish the ratio of...

"I think the apprentices will be guaranteed a job when we go back, so I think we'll be OK," said Rhys from Bristol. He and his fellow fresh-faced apprentices are huddled around a noisy workbench in Berlin. At just 19, he is one of the...

The UK's biggest online university project is being launched, with more than 20 universities offering free courses. Students will be able to follow courses on mobile phones as well as computers.
The UK's project, called FutureLearn, will see UK...

Police are remembering the "great sacrifice" of two unarmed officers who were killed by a gangster a year ago.
Dale Cregan lured Pc Nicola Hughes, 23, and Pc Fiona Bone, 32, to their deaths in a gun and grenade attack, ambushing them after a...

Nick Clegg will stake the Liberal Democrats' claim on a place in government after the next general election, insisting that only a coalition including his party will "keep the country on the right path".
In a keynote speech concluding the...

Mo Farah's former PE teacher has said standards of school sport and physical education need to improve.
Alan Watkinson spotted the talents of the future double Olympic champion when Farah was still a youngster and helped mentor him as a schoolboy.
In...

The number of nurses on duty in every English hospital ward should be collected daily and published to help prevent a repeat of the Stafford hospital scandal, a powerful Commons committee has recommended.
MPs want the information to be collated...

The NHS will struggle to meet its target of delivering £20 billion in productivity improvements by 2015, a health charity has warned.
Just 10% of NHS finance directors surveyed rated the chances of meeting the target as better than 50/50, according to...

Police are remembering the "great sacrifice" of two unarmed officers who were killed by a gangster a year ago.
Dale Cregan lured Pc Nicola Hughes, 23, and Pc Fiona Bone, 32, to their deaths in a gun and grenade attack, ambushing them after a...

Nick Clegg will stake the Liberal Democrats' claim on a place in government after the next general election, insisting that only a coalition including his party will "keep the country on the right path".
In a keynote speech concluding the...

Mo Farah's former PE teacher has said standards of school sport and physical education need to improve.
Alan Watkinson spotted the talents of the future double Olympic champion when Farah was still a youngster and helped mentor him as a schoolboy.
In...

The number of nurses on duty in every English hospital ward should be collected daily and published to help prevent a repeat of the Stafford hospital scandal, a powerful Commons committee has recommended.
MPs want the information to be collated...

The NHS will struggle to meet its target of delivering £20 billion in productivity improvements by 2015, a health charity has warned.
Just 10% of NHS finance directors surveyed rated the chances of meeting the target as better than 50/50, according to...